WelcomeWelcome to the May 2014 edition of e-nlighten. We have had a busy first part of the year developing our new e-learning resources, the first of which will be available in the summer. We have also been working hard to keep up with all the coming changes to CQC inspections. This edition will bring you up to speed on those and remember to keep an eye on our regular blogs which are available via our website and our Twitter feed.

In a recent blog we talked about the newly announced introduction of a Care Certificate. At the time there was very little information available. Skills for Care have now published a little more information and they will be running consultations over the next few months. To find out the latest follow this link

March 2014 saw the return of Nutrition and Hydration Awareness Week for the third year. A statement from the NHS explains further:

“Nutrition and Hydration Week is a call to action to improve the nutrition and hydration for the people that we provide care for, regardless of care setting, organisation, region or country. It is about everyone recognising that they make a contribution to improving the health and well-being of people in their care and it is wonderful to see teams working together to make a real difference.

There is evidence that poor nutrition and hydration care contributes to poor patient experience and can seriously undermine a person’s health and wellbeing, reducing their ability to recover and increases mortality. There is also evidence that poor and inconsistent practice in nutrition and hydration care can lead to serious and avoidable harm – this is why we need to focus energy and activity on this key element of care”.

We celebrated with some of our school learners who spent time creating fun and healthy food as well as trying new foods themselves.

Nutrition and Hydration

Blog update

May 2014

City Business Park, Somerset Place, Stoke, Plymouth, PL3 4BB info@venustc.co.uk, Tel: 08452 123 00www.venustc.co.uk

e-nlighten May 2014 Page 2

NICE, the health and social care guidance body, has published its guideline about medicines in care homes for those involved in handling, prescribing, commissioning and decision-making. The guideline makes recommendations about the systems and processes that need to be in place to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines for all children, young people and adults who live in care homes, including those who need nursing care.

In support of the implementation of the guideline NICE will be holding two workshops running from 10am - 4pm.

• Leeds: 16 May 2014

• London: 22 May 2014

The workshops will provide presentations about the development of the guideline and an overview of the recommendations.

To access the new guidelines click here

Development toolkit now available as app

Safe systems for medicines

Skills for Care have put together a free resource for care providers: ‘Choosing workforce learning - a guide to choosing the right learning and development in adult social care’. The guide provides information and tips on:

• Identifying the learning needs of your workers

• The different types of learning available

• The questions you need to ask to develop a learning package for your organisation

• How to evaluate learning and development

• Which issues should be considered

• Finding the right learning provider for your organisation.

You can download the guide here

They have also produced top ten tips packs which are a small set of cards that include the key things you need to think about when trying to find a suitable learning provider. The cards give suggestions about what you need to find out before you commit to choosing a provider. These include thinking about whether your provider understands the social care sector, how the learning is delivered and how it is accredited or recognised. The set of cards comes on a small key chain so they can be used in and about the workplace and referenced easily.

To receive a free set, contact Skills for Care at: marketing@skillsforcare.org.uk.

For those of you embracing technology Skills for Care have produced the choosing workforce learning app which is designed to be used as an aide-memoir during an interview with a potential social care learning provider, and provides a handy 10 step evaluation to help you steer the conversation and capture the right information. Each section of the evaluation has a set of questions and a simple rating mechanism, either a rating out of 10 or a yes/no score. Once the evaluation is complete the app provides a visual summary of the provider and gives an overall score. You can then export the summary by email for further use at your desk or to share with your colleagues. Previous evaluations are retained, so you can see at a glance which provider has the highest score.

This app can be downloaded from iTunes® and from Google Play™

City Business Park, Somerset Place, Stoke, Plymouth, PL3 4BB info@venustc.co.uk, Tel: 08452 123 00www.venustc.co.uk

New Guidelines from CQC

e-nlighten May 2014 Page 3

The Whistleblowing Helpline’s new publication, “Raising Concerns at Work: Whistleblowing Guidance for Workers and Employers in Health and Social Care” is now available to download. Key sections in the Guidance include:

• The importance of whistleblowing as an early warning system of problems, which research shows is often ignored

• An outline of the legislation – the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998

• A flowchart of the whistleblowing process

• Top tips for workers who wish to raise concerns, and sources of advice and support for them

• Top tips for operational managers to respond positively when staff raise concerns

At corporate level, the Guidance sets national standards for whistleblowing policies for employers, together with a summary of their responsibilities, case studies of good practice, frequently asked questions, further information and links.

You can download the entire document here or request a hard copy of the document through the contact page on their website.

The Guidance has special sections aimed at workers and managers, and you can download those here:

• Top Tips for Workers

• Top Tips for Managers

• Employer Guidance

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Flowchart of Whistleblowing Process

All eyes are on CQC at the moment, waiting for information as it is released about the new inspection model for Adult Social Care. Here are a few of the latest updates from them:

CQC ran a live Q&A on their new approach to adult social care in March. Their policy lead, Rachael Dodgson, and Ed Watkinson, who is working with their design team whilst on secondment from Barchester Healthcare, answered questions about changes to how they propose to regulate, monitor, and inspect the sector. CQC Community members can still see the discussion thread here. If you are not a member, you can sign up here…

In early April CQC launched a formal consultation, running for eight weeks, on their provider handbooks. These will outline the principles and approach behind the new

methodology, including information on how they intend to rate providers. They will also be running a series of regional consultation events during late April and May. To support the events, they will be holding live Q&As and reviews via the online community mentioned above.

Find out more about the timeline for roll-out here

#YODO

To publicise the issue and raise awareness of the need to deal with death in a more open way the coalition is organising Dying Matters Awareness Week from 12-18 May. The theme for 2014 is ‘You Only Die Once’ or #YODO for short, and has five simple steps that it wants us all to take:

• Write your will

• Record your funeral wishes

• Plan your future care and support

• Consider registering as an organ donor

• Tell your loved ones your wishes

The coalition is encouraging people and organise local events which raise awareness and help make death less of a taboo subject. They want to encourage us all to think and talk about death much more openly and without feeling uncomfortable. If you want to get involved you can find inspiration, ideas and resources here

Whistleblowing Advice

e-nlighten is designed by Tony Kellas: info@tonykellas.com

The next issue of e-nlighten will be in August 2014

Whistleblowing Guidance for Workers and Employers in

Health and Social Care

RAISING CONCERNS AT WORK